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Finally, I knew what it was like to be Simone Biles (kind of).

AcroYogaDance is a company that specialises in a mash-up of yoga, dance and acrobatics, founded by Eugene Butcher and Pip Elysium. Together, they each Londoners of all ages and backgrounds how to do mad things with their bodies.

They teach pairs to learn how to be a base (the person on the floor) and how to be a flier (the person in the air), helping them go through a range of moves which then get made into a sequence – which is where the dance bit comes in.

Unlike other forms of yoga, the aim is to join all the moves together into a continuous flow. It isn’t about stopping for 10 breaths in a certain position, but rather to keep it moving and progressing.

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But it’s not. In fact, Eugene says it can be surprisingly quick to make progress.

‘It depends – because it’s two people, it depends on the pair,’ he explains.

‘If it’s two beginners, they may have success, if it’s a beginner with someone more experienced than the other, there’s more likelihood of success. But success for us is more about having fun and reaching a level of understanding rather than absolutely nailing the moves.’

The key, they say, is in sticking to the same partner.

‘You’d be surprised how quick progress can be. With AcroYogaDance, we encourage people to find someone who they can get consistent practice with because so much of it comes from having this trust and what we call calibration and knowing…whereas similar practices encourage people to swap.

‘What we’re trying to convey is if you stick with one partner, the things you can do and find easy and incredible happen a lot faster because of that understanding.’

But that’s not to say that you need to have someone ready to fly from the start, in order to begin AcroYoga.

People turn up to the classes solo and often try out various partners in the class before finding their match.

‘They can come any which way they like,’ says Eugene.

‘90% of people come on their own, not as a couple. Or maybe they’ll come as two mate sand they’ll practice with different people but then at some point, they’ll connect well and naturally gravitate towards a partner. And that’s what we encourage them to explore and develop.’

And I mean…I turned up and within 45 minutes had got into a handstand, a throne, and a sort of back wave position. But then again, I had Eugene as my base – not some equally inept beginner.

To help get people set up, the pair have recently launched a year-long academy which sees pupils committing for 52 weeks – really giving people a chance to really get to know partners.

The person on the floor can see what you’re doing and can see what you need to alter much better than you can – so you need to be fully in tune with each other. If they say ‘pike’ (meaning a slight bend in the hips), you’ve got to be paying attention…or you could come crashing down.